Wordle 1817 Hint

Hint: Straighten up and take a side!

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New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: A

I'm Still Getting Most of My Daily 11,000 Steps In ...

... by mowing.

After deducting the house, outbuildings, hedges, trees, and the side yard area that I'm in the process of "re-wilding" from our 1.7-acre lot, I've got about an acre to mow.

I could use a riding mower -- the one the previous owner abandoned isn't running and it doesn't seem to just be the battery, I suspect squirrels ate some of the wiring, but I've got another available for the asking -- but so far I've been using a push mower, and I'm able to keep up with it, even now that we're getting some rain.

About an hour a day seems to get me to more than 7,000 steps, so a pleasant, fairly short evening walk and the walking I do in the natural course of the day gets me past the 11,000 mark.

I'm also considering doing more Friday hiking in the area's many state and national park areas, but not this week (Tamara will be traveling for a few days for work).

I have pretty much stopped carrying 25 pounds of weight in a pack while walking, mostly because I was using barbell weight plates in a backpack and they shift around a lot and aren't comfortable. I'll stick to using the pack to carry gear when I'm camping, which I'm also planning to do some of. I may buy one of those "weight vests," the 30-pound version, for the walking.

I'm also considering a new mower. The current one is only a couple of years old, but it's a corded electric, and dragging around 200+ feet of extension cord is a bother. I haven't decided whether to go with a gas mower or a battery-powered electric unit.

As I've detailed in more than one column, I have no love for the custom/tradition of trying to replicate the English aristocracy's "lawn" fetish, and may start replacing grass with something more low-maintenance at some point ("perennial peanut" looks good and requires mowing about once per season).

On the other hand, it strikes me that one section of the front lot would serve well as a croquet course or lawn tennis court, which I guess is aristocracy-like. Or maybe a baseball diamond. Get it set up with a nice backstop, then bring my projector out and screen Field of Dreams when friends come over to toss the ball around.

I'm also planning to plant palm trees. We've only got one, and we don't really have that one -- it's down in the jungle out front that's technically a county road easement if they ever decide to replace the cow path with pavement or whatever. I rescued a seedling from another right-of-way yesterday, potted it, and am hoping it will do well enough to go in the ground. I'll be looking for others.

Anyway, I'm at only 10,731 steps for the day, so I think I'll go check the mail or something now.

Wordle 1816 Hint

Hint: When your ship comes in, here's where you'll board it.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ad below.

New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: W